Method for measuring the concentration of a gas component in a measuring gas

Abstract

 In a wavelength modulation spectroscopy method:
- modulating the wavelength of a light source with a modulation signal (3) at a modulation frequency (f₀), while the wavelength is swept over an interaction feature of a sample,
- further modulating the intensity of said light source at a wavelength outside the interaction feature with a burst signal (1, 1'), where an N-th harmonic (Nf_n) of the burst frequency (f_n) coincides with an M-th harmonic (Mf₀) of said modulation frequency (fo),
- passing the light to the sample and thereafter to a detector,
- demodulating the detector output at said M-th harmonic (Mf₀), and
- normalizing the demodulated detector output by calculating the ratio between a demodulated detector output portion derived from the light modulated with the modulation signal (3) and another demodulated detector output portion derived from the light modulated with the burst signal (1, 1').

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a wavelength modulation spectroscopy method. It further relates to a wavelength modulation spectroscopy system.

[0002] In wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) the wavelength of the light of a tunable light source, such as a diode laser, is modulated with a frequency f₀, while the wavelength is swept over a molecular absorption line of a gas component of interest in a gas sample. As the light propagates along a measurement path through the gas sample, wavelength dependent absorption converts some of the wavelength modulation into an amplitude modulation of the light. Thus, the light will have an overtone spectrum generated by the absorption, the harmonic content of the spectrum being dependent on the width and shape of the molecular absorption line in the gas and the etalons in the optical path of the measuring system. When the light then impinges onto a measuring detector, for example a photodiode, the detector output contains AC components at the modulation frequency f₀ and its higher harmonics Mf₀ (M = 2, 3, 4, etc.). Demodulating the detector output at one of said higher harmonics, preferably at 2f₀, shifts the measurement from frequencies near DC, where the light source is noisy, into a higher frequency range, where the noise is lower, thus improving the measurement sensitivity.

[0003] In order to measure absolute gas concentrations, a suitable normalization method is needed for compensating for general fluctuations in the emitted light intensity and non-gas related transmission in the optical path of the measuring system. For example, in in-situ measurements of trace gases in combustion environments where varying dust loads, high temperature, gas turbulences etc. modulate the light in the kHz range, it is important that the normalization is not distorted by the rapidly changing transmission and turbulences in the measurement path.

[0004] Light which propagates through weakly absorbing gases is attenuated exponentially according to the Beer-Lambert law:


where I is the intensity of the light after passing through the measurement path, I_L is the intensity of the light emitted from the light source, T is a transmission factor over the measurement path, which transmission factor stands for the wavelength independent transmission including optical losses, α_i is the absorption coefficient of a gaseous species i with the concentration c_i, and L is the length of the measurement path. The absorption coefficient α_i is dependent on the light frequency ν (or the wavelength). For small optical absorption, Equation 1 reduces to:

[0005] As mentioned above, wavelength modulation spectroscopy utilizes a rapid modulation of the emitted light with a frequency f₀, while the wavelength is swept over a molecular absorption line of a gas component of interest in the gas sample. The light impinging on the detector can then be written as:

[0006] [Applied Optics, Vol. 38, No. 27, pp. 5803-5815 (September 1999)], where α₀ and X represent the intensity and the peak-normalized shape of the molecular absorption line of interest. I_BG and I_AS are the background and analytical light portions, respectively, and are defined as:

[0007] As can be seen from Equations 4 and 5, independent measuring of the non-gas related transmission I_LT is needed to measure absolute gas concentrations.

[0008] The most straight forward method to measure the non-gas related transmission I_LT is to use a direct detection. The wavelength of the light is swept by a triangular or sawtooth waveform over the absorption line of the gas component to be measured wherein the beginning and the end of the scan are well separated from the absorption peak. The measuring detector output is compared with the signal from a monitor detector which directly monitors the output intensity of the light source. The direct detection channel then detects the large triangular scan as a measure of the transmitted optical power. The scan also includes a period where the light source is turned off in order to provide an accurate zero irradiance reference. [Applied Optics, Vol. 38, No. 36, pp. 7342-7354 (December 1999) and Applied Optics, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 91-102 (January 2005)].

[0009] In wavelength modulation spectroscopy a combination of wavelength modulation and direct detection can be used [Applied Optics, Vol. 38, No. 21, pp. 4609-4622 (July 1999)]. This technique is mostly developed for atmospheric monitoring; to be used in harsh industrial environment, the modulation rate has to be increased in order to place the signal energy above that of the turbulent measuring medium.

[0010] In wavelength modulation spectroscopy an indirect measure of the non-gas related optical transmission can be obtained by the use of the wavelength modulation signal f₀, which makes it necessary to introduce a separate detection channel for the fundamental frequency [US 5,173,749]. An intentionally injected pilot tone at a higher harmonic Mf₀ of said wavelength modulation signal [US 7,116,422] avoids the use of such a separate electronic channel. A drawback of this method, however, is that the received pilot tone amplitude gives only information about the transmission factor T rather than the detected non-gas related light intensity I_LT, thus I_L has to be measured separately, e. g. by division with a reference cell signal [US 5,173,749], which introduces the necessity of an additional optical channel. Therefore, in order to obtain I_LT directly, the modulation of the light source should also include turning off the emitted light entirely.

[0011] Therefore, the invention seeks to provide a wavelength modulation spectroscopy method and system, which effectively compensate variations in the emitted light intensity and in the non-gas related transmission of the measurement path.

[0012] According to the invention this is achieved by the method defined in claim 1 and the system defined in claim 7.

[0013] Preferred embodiments of the method and the system according to the invention are specified in the remaining claims.

[0014] According to the present invention normalization is based on a burst signal, the frequency of which lies above that of the turbulences and flame spectra in the measurement path. The burst signal waveform is optimized to maximize the intensity modulation effect while its amplitude is chosen to allow periodic interruption of the laser emission. Moreover, the burst frequency is chosen so that a suitable overtone can be detected by the same signal chain or channel as that of the analytical signal portion thereby using preferably a down sampling scheme.

[0015] The present invention will be now described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1

shows an example for the light modulation with a burst and a sinusoidal signal;

Figure 2

shows the Fourier spectra of the detected burst and analytical signal portions;

Figure 3

illustrates the down sampling procedure; and

Figure 4

is a schematic block diagram of the system in accordance with the invention.

[0016] Figure 1 shows an example of the modulation of the intensity I_L of the light emitted from a light source, preferably a diode laser. The modulation periodically alternates between a burst 1, 1' with a burst frequency f_n and a triangular or sawtooth sweep function 2 with a superimposed sinusoidal modulation 3 at a modulation frequency f₀. The purpose of the sweep function 2 is to allow light wavelength scan across an absorption line of a gas component of interest. It is advantageous, although not necessary, to apply the burst 1, 1' with different amplitudes before and after the sweep function 2 to allow measure of the eventual changes in the optical power vs. injection current characteristics of the diode laser.

[0017] The waveform and the frequency f_n of the burst 1, 1' are preferably chosen to allow a settling time of the diode laser. The optimum choice is a square wave. Furthermore, the burst frequency f_n is arranged so that an N-th harmonic Nf_n of the waveform coincides with an M-th harmonic Mf₀ of the modulation frequency f₀, at which M-th harmonic Mf₀ the analytical light portion I_AS (cf. Equation 5) is detected. Thus, for the purpose of normalization, a suitable overtone can be detected by the same signal chain or channel as that for evaluation the analytical signal portion. The choice of harmonics M and N is also made to allow for an optimum relation in amplitude between the normalization signal and the analytical signal, thus allowing an optimum dynamic range of the single signal chain.

[0018] The M-th harmonic of the detected analytical light portion (cf. Equation 5) can be written as:

[0019] The detected light intensity as a result of the square wave burst modulation shown in Figure 1 can be then written as:


where K depends on the bandwidths of the laser driver and the detector.

[0020] As the burst frequency f_n is arranged so that an N-th harmonic Nf_n, of the burst frequency f_n coincides with an M-th harmonic Mf₀ of the modulation frequency f₀, the following relation is given:


where N = 1, 3, 5,...

[0021] If another waveform configuration is used when the modulation and burst signals simultaneously, a further aspect when determining the relation between these two frequencies f₀ and f_n is to avoid distortion due to overlap between frequency components of the measurement and burst signal. In this case the bandwidth B of the measured signal at Mf₀ has to fulfill the following relation:


By inserting Equation 8 in Equations 6 and 7, respectively, one obtains:


and

[0022] Figure 2 shows the Fourier spectra of the detected burst and analytical signal portions I_burst(f) and I_AS(f) for N = 7 and M = 2. The Nf₀ frequency components can be filtered and amplified before downsampling.

[0023] By performing downsampling at a sampling frequency F_s = (N+1)f_n, Equation 10 can be written as:


where n is a sample number. Similarly, Equation 11 becomes:


Since N/(N+1) > 1/2, aliasing takes place. Reconstruction of the discrete signals given by Equations 12 and 13 gives:

[0024] Thus, by performing down sampling at a sampling frequency F_s = (N+1)f_n, the M-th harmonic of the detected analytical light portion I_AS,Nfn and the N-th harmonic I_burst,Nfn of the burst are both converted down to f_n due to the aliasing effect. This effect is shown in Figure 3.

[0025] Combination of Equations 12 and 13 yields the following formula for gas concentration:


As can be seen, the concentration c_i is no longer dependent on the non-gas related optical transmission I_LT.

[0026] The above method is especially advantageous to utilize an audio analog-to-digital converter with a sampling frequency F_s = 192 kHz. This avoids the necessity of an extra downsampling stage. The burst frequency is then f_n = 24 kHz, while the modulation frequency is f₀ = 84 kHz. The 7f_n burst and 2f₀ analytical signal fall both in a 168 kHz frequency band. Sampling at 192 kHz aliases the 168 kHz band back to 24 kHz where they can be easily processed further.

[0027] Figure 4 shows a wavelength modulation spectroscopy system including a frequency tunable light source 11 in form of a diode laser for generating light 12 in form of a laser beam and of intensity I_L which is passed along a single optical path through a measuring volume 13 to a detector 14 for generating an output 15 indicative of the received light intensity I. The measuring volume 13, which can be a sample cell or, in case of in-situ process measurements, a gas-leading pipe, furnace, funnel or the like, contains a measuring gas (sample) 16, in which the concentration c_i of a specific gas component i is to be measured. The modulation of the diode laser 11 is switched by means of a switch 17 between the sweep signal 2 with the added modulation signal 3 of the frequency f₀, provided by a waveform generator 18, and the burst signal 1, 1' turning on and off the diode laser 11 at frequency f_n, provided by a burst generator 19. The frequencies f₀ and f_n are related such that Mf₀ = Nf_n, where N is an integer corresponding to a suitable harmonic of the burst signal 1, 1' and M is the harmonic of the modulation frequency f₀ where detection of the absorption in the measuring volume 13 will be made. The generated laser light 12 is passed through the measuring volume 13 and picked up by the detector diode 14. The output 15 of the detector 14 is filtered through a band-pass filter 20 with a centre frequency Mf₀ and then converted to digital format in an analog-to-digital converter 21 running at a sampling frequency F_s = (N+1)f_n hence causing both the M-th harmonic of f₀ and the N-th harmonic of f_n to be folded or aliased back to frequency f_n. The down-converted detector output is then processed by the digital signal processing unit 22 for calculating the concentration c_i of the specific gas component i to be measured. Due to a synchronisation unit 21 the signal processing unit 22 can separate the parts of the detector output related to modulation generated by the burst generator 19 at the burst frequency f_n from those parts related to modulation by the waveform generator 18 at the modulation frequency f₀.

Claims

1. A wavelength modulation spectroscopy method comprising the steps of:

- periodically sweeping the wavelength of a light source (11) over an interaction feature of a sample (16) according to a sweep function (2),

- modulating the wavelength of said light source (11) with a modulation signal (3) at a modulation frequency (f₀), while the wavelength is swept over the interaction feature,

- further periodically modulating the intensity of said light source (11) at a wavelength outside the interaction feature with a burst signal (1, 1'), where an N-th harmonic (Nf_n) of the burst frequency (f_n) coincides with an M-th harmonic (Mf₀) of said modulation frequency (f₀),

- passing the light (12) of the light source (11) to the sample (16) for interacting and thereafter to a detector (14),

- demodulating the detector output (15) at said M-th harmonic (Mf₀) of said modulation frequency (f₀), and

- normalizing the demodulated detector output (15) by calculating the ratio between a demodulated detector output portion derived from the light (12) modulated with the modulation signal (3) and another demodulated detector output portion derived from the light (12) modulated with the burst signal (1, 1').

2. The method of claim 1 wherein before the step of normalizing, the demodulated detector output (15) is down sampled at a sampling frequency (F_s) equal to the (N+1)-fold of the burst frequency (f_n).

3. The method of claims 1 or 2 wherein N = 7 and M = 2.

4. The method of one of the preceding claims wherein the modulation signal (3) comprises a sinusoidal.

5. The method of one of the preceding claims wherein the burst signal (1, 1') comprises a square wave.

6. The method of one of the preceding claims wherein the sweep function (2) comprises a sawtooth and wherein the amplitude of the burst signal (1, 1') is different before and after the sweep (2).

7. A wavelength modulation spectroscopy system comprising:

- a wavelength tunable light source (11),

- first modulation means (18) for periodically sweeping the wavelength of the light source (11) over an interaction feature of a sample according to a sweep function (2) and modulating the wavelength of said light source (11) with a modulation signal (3) at a modulation frequency (f₀), while the wavelength is swept over the interaction feature,

- second modulation means (19) for periodically modulating the intensity of said light source (11) at a wavelength outside the interaction feature with a burst signal (1, 1'), where an N-th harmonic (Nf_n) of the burst frequency (f_n) coincides with an M-th harmonic (Mf₀) of said modulation frequency (f₀),

- a detector (14) for detecting the light (12) of the light source (11) after interaction with a sample (16) and producing a detector output (15),

- demodulation means (20) for processing the detector output (15) at said M-th harmonic (Mf₀) of said modulation frequency (f₀), and

- evaluation means (22) for normalizing the demodulated detector output (15) configured to calculate the ratio between a demodulated detector output portion derived from the light (12) modulated with the modulation signal (3) and another demodulated detector output portion derived from the light (12) modulated with the burst signal (1, 1').

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising between the detector (14) and the evaluation means (22) an analog-to-digital converter (21) configured to downsample the demodulated detector output (15) at a sampling frequency (F_s) equal to the (N+1)-fold of the burst frequency (f_n).

9. The system of claims 7 or 8 wherein N = 7 and M = 2.

10. The system of one of claims 7 to 9 wherein the modulation signal (3) comprises a sinusoidal.

11. The system of one of claims 7 to 9 wherein the burst signal (1, 1') comprises a square wave.

12. The system of one of claims 7 to 9 wherein the sweep function (2) comprises a sawtooth and wherein the amplitude of the burst signal (1, 1') is different before and after the sweep (2).

Drawing